


you were wrong

by smsy



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Anxiety, Character Study?, Neighbors, Panic Attacks, also the timelines are a bit messy, and Idk how to properly use punctuation sometimes, english isn't the language I speak everyday, or minhyuk almost had one in this, the other members are all going to be present, there isn't much going on in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-08-29 00:18:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16733397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smsy/pseuds/smsy
Summary: minhyuk just moved into a new apartment only to reunite with an old friend(?) who lives next door.





	1. Chapter 1

 

 

 

Sometimes Minhyuk can’t really fathom things that actually happened in his life. For example, how he somehow just decided to study law a few years back and did actually get accepted into a law school later on and how he recently found an apartment where they allow the tenants to have pets - it’s not that he has one of his own at the moment but he’s been planning to - and how he is now, sitting on one of the stools provided in the laundry room while listening to Hyungwon rambling about his flawed sleep patterns.

 

This is what he’s thinking about at the moment while slowly tuning out of his surrounding. Life goes on fast that you don’t usually think about what is happening right now and how does it make any sense, but he would find himself doing it once in awhile.

 

“Hey, are you even listening? Am i talking to this family of washers?” he hears Hyungwon, who’s done putting his laundries in the washer and now sitting besides him, asking with his deep, rumbling voice. He seems like he is still not fully awake yet with the way he drags every syllable when he talks and shuffles his feet when he walks, even though it’s past noon already.

 

“I am. You were accusing me of being loud when i wasn’t.” he answers nonchalantly, still not looking up from his toes that are sticking out of the front of his flipflops, where he’s been examining them, but before the other could retort Minhyuk turns to him and smiles widely then he sees his neighbor rolling his eyeballs instead. “Listen, can you believe what we’re doing right now?”

 

“What?”

 

“Like, this?” he gestures toward every directions with his head. “We, having a little date in the laundry room on a friday, doing nothing else but staring at our clothes swirling in there. Complaining about life. Isn’t it kind of overwhelming in a way? like, I never thought this could ever happened last month.”

 

When he stops talking he sees Hyungwon’s face contorts into something funny which he knows is indicating that he’s really confused and amused at the same time.

 

“Dude, are you high?” he laughs out loud. “Firstly, we’re not on a date. We’re trying to do some chores down here for god’s sake. Secondly, are you high?”

 

Minhyuk just narrows his eyes, scowling at the giggling guy besides him for a solid two minutes before turning away and crossing his arms across his chest. “I’m just going to pretend that I’m not offended.”

 

“You never get offended.” Hyungwon argues, voice soft but still laced with some amusement.

 

Minhyuk can feel the corners of his own lips rising at that. The guy is right. He would not get offended by something like this but he wouldn’t tolerate such disrespect and lack of appreciation for this brooding side of him either.

 

“True, except when people accuse me of being high. Not once but twice.” he shoves Hyungwon hard so that the guy would stop laughing and he does, as he barely avoids falling on his face and now it's Minhyuk’s turn to laugh and he makes it sounded as annoying as possible.

 

“What the hell, dude?” He’s already on his feet when he reaches out his hand towards Minhyuk’s direction, probably is planning to strangle him or something. He never knows because he’s out of the taller’s reach before anything could happen. “I need my face for my job!”

 

Minhyuk, who is also on both his feet now and is ready to flee at any given time, sticks out his tongue at the infuriated guy. “To hell with your job, you soft face, motherfucker!”

  
  
  
  
  


 

He only got to properly unpack and somewhat cleaned the place three days after moving in because of his part time job and school, and by the time he’d done vacuuming presumably every inches of the floor, it was almost three in the morning.

 

He cursed as he stretched his aching back and shuffled to his bathroom to take a long hot bath before going to sleep.

 

He slept soundly that night and woke up at three the next day like he had been desperately wanting to do so for a long time which he had actually. Waking up at such ungodly hour without worrying about missing anything from his schedule had been his dream since he started with spring semester.

 

He regretted it though since now his body was aching everywhere. His muscles felt incredibly stiff and it was as if he had never been more tired before. He spent about twenty minutes staring into nothing on his couch after having a cup of coffee until he heard someone ringing the bell at his door. He contemplated ignoring it for the sake of not moving from his spot but decided against it eventually.

 

Without bothering to look into the intercom monitor or even trying to fix a friendly face, he opened the door and saw a guy, taller than him, who looked like he was about to walk away already.

 

“Yes?”

 

He wanted to smile politely but somehow the muscles on his face did not want to cooperate. But he figured maybe he didn’t have to because this guy, whoever he was, was looking like he was about to throw some profanities at his face. It was gone the next second though.

 

The tensed face was gone and was replaced with a face painted with recognition and shock. He then pointed his forefinger at Minhyuk’s very sour face and opened his mouth while taking a sharp intake of breath.

 

“Lee Minhyuk?!”

 

Apparently, he was one of his friends in high school. A pretty, lanky guy named Chae Hyungwon. And it didn’t stop there, he was also one of his exes, not that it mattered much anyway when he thought back on it. They had only dated for about two months before they broke up on one fine day, right after Minhyuk had landed his right fist on the other’s pretty nose. He wasn’t sure, Hyungwon said, whether he liked dicks or not. Or he probably had said something else, Minhyuk didn’t remember the details much except for the part where the guy definitely just indicated that he only used him to experiment on his sexuality which led him to throw the punch.

 

Hyungwon looked incredulous when Minhyuk really took his time to recognize him. To his defense though, he was half-dead and his old classmate looked exceptionally different than Minhyuk ever remembered he did back then. And ‘back then’ was a long time ago too.

 

“Anyway,” he proceeded hastily and rather hesitantly after minhyuk finally acknowledged him as someone he actually had known before. “I came to tell you that apparently the wall between your bathroom and my bedroom is very thin so, you know, maybe in the future you can consider that before you blast out a song in full volume at fucking three am.” he stopped and exhaled before nodding his head once. “Thank you.”

 

Minhyuk didn’t even have time to register everything in his mind; his brain was working slower than usual, so he just stood there as Hyungwon turned on his heels and walked away toward his right but he hadn’t gone far enough as he yelled out, “and please don’t sing out loud when you’re showering... Yeah-- that’s all. Goodbye.” And then he was gone, most likely to his own apartment.

 

Minhyuk retreated to his couch after that, feeling more baffled than ever.

 

The second time they met was when they both rushed into the elevator, approximately three days later. Minhyuk didn’t realize the guy he was with in the small compartment was his neighbor, Hyungwon, at first because he was busy digging his backpack for his phone. “Good morning” he said without looking up.

 

There was a short silence before the guy finally greeted back and upon hearing the almost familiar voice, Minhyuk looked up and found Hyungwon staring down at him.

 

He wouldn’t ever admit it to the guy, only because he didn’t want him to feel too good about it, but he was glad about meeting Hyungwon again after a long time. Actually, he was kind of thrilled. The reason could be varied, like looking at Hyungwon, now that he fully recognized him as one of his old friends, really brought back a lot of flashing memories from high school and it made him all nostalgic. Meanwhile, it also could’ve been that since Minhyuk was originally an extrovert, he felt joy even just by making small interaction with other human beings, an old friend included.

 

“Hey.” he said, smiling widely. “Sorry about being loud in the bathroom that morning. I mean, have I been loud after that? You didn’t hear anything weird from my bathroom anymore, did you?”

 

He really wasn’t trying to indicate anything _pg-16_ there but for a moment the taller guy just stared at him in a mix of disbelief and amusement and Minhyuk didn’t know what else to do other than staring back. Then Hyungwon began laughing loudly as the elevator dinged, signaling that they had reached the lobby.

 

They both walked out side by side with Hyungwon still laughing and Minhyuk grinning wildly at him. They had to part ways almost immediately when Minhyuk got a call from Changkyun whom he knew was waiting for him in his car outside the building.

 

“Ah, Chae Hyungwon.” he called after looking at the caller's name on the screen, didn’t even bother to pick up the call. “It’s a shame really, but I gotta go. See you sometime?”

 

Then he extended his right hand out for a handshake. Hyungwon only stared at it for a second, probably was taken aback by the gesture, but he took it nonetheless. “Sure.” he nodded, smiling.

 

They haven’t crossed paths or even purposely went to greet each other and brought gifts and whatnot like some decent people who just recently became neighbors would have after that day. Not that Minhyuk never thought of doing it, but he was a busy person who was most likely to keep the time he got off of school and work for his own virtue.

 

Unless, he was in need of some help and he didn’t know who else he should’ve gone to.

 

“Hey, good morning.” he beamed as soon as Hyungwon opened the door to his apartment.

 

It was saturday, so he knew that he had to disturb someone’s sleep by doing this but he was desperate so there he was, grinning shamelessly after abusing the doorbell button for at least five minutes. The grin didn’t stay for long though as he gasped at the neighbor who appeared with a black mask on and with his eyes basically shut. His hair also was sticking out all over the place. It was a ridiculous sight in general, he had to laugh at it.

 

“The fuck you want?” Hyungwon grunted. The words were muffled behind the mask but it wasn’t hard for Minhyuk to decipher them.

 

“Hey, watch your mouth, young man.” he began saying with an authoritative tone while struggling to stifle a laugh. “I don’t know if you even recognize me, but it’s me, Brad, your landlord? Coming to check up on your-”

 

“Fuck off.” he slammed the door shut on Minhyuk’s face without warning, making him jump. His heart literally felt like it’d almost stopped operating at the sudden violent gesture. In return he shouted back some profanities and stomped to his own apartment.

 

But he had to go back there, to 9-4 where Hyungwon lives. He didn’t care if he was being that obnoxious and overbearing neighbor, he just needed some help. Even though his situation maybe wasn’t critical enough, but it was almost there.

 

So, there he was again, not even ten minutes later, a bit agitated this time, but still as determined as before.

 

After pushing the doorbell button and waiting and pushing it again and waiting again for about three seconds, he was just about to push the thing for the third time but Hyungwon finally appeared before him, this time looking a bit more alive than before.

 

“Good morning.” he beamed again, hoping that it was as bright as he wanted to so that his neighbor would somehow be less hesitant to help him later. “I’m Lee Minhyuk, your neighbor from 9-3 and I was just here-”

 

He wanted to apologize for his previous little antics, he really did but Hyungwon cut him off.

 

“God, why? So early in the morning...” He mumbled softly behind his black mask. “What do you want, _neighbor?”_ the guy rolled his eyes at the title.

 

Minhyuk took a deep breath and exhaled. “It’s gonna be long, but hear me out please.”

 

So while ignoring Hyungwon’s judgmental look, he started with how he just moved in next to him not two weeks ago and how he was a very mature adult but he never actually lived by himself before and this was his first time hence why he was very inexperienced in this whole thing and Hyungwon shouldn’t judge him for that and how his mom just called him saying her and his brother were on the way there, to his place and they cared about him too much and they needed to know if he was living in his own place by himself alright.

 

“In short, i need to present a perfect place where you could call a home to them so that they would leave me alone.” he finished with a curt and clean nod.

 

Hyungwon had both his arms folded in his chest and a deep frown on his face by then. “Sorry, but why do you want them to leave you alone?” he asked and he sounds somewhat genuine. Minhyuk knew right away that he hadn’t really been listening.

 

This time it was Minhyuk’s turn to frown. “I mean that so they would let me live by myself in peace. You know, they just wanted the best for me. Is there anything else you don’t get?” He precisely laced his words with sarcasm and the other guy rolled his eyes at that.

 

“Damn, I thought I just listened to a recap of some tv show or something.” he shook his head and shifted so now he had one hand on his hip. “Yeah, there’s still one thing I don’t get though. What did you actually want from me again?”

 

“Oh.” Minhyuk looked over the other’s head and started counting on his head. He also began chewing on his lips and occasionally on his nails. “Uh, some foods, preferably uncooked so I could stuff them on my empty fridge and and make it look like i actually cook some real meal sometimes and some toiletries, like shampoo? also cleaning supplies and stuffs... What else do you think i need?”

 

Hyungwon once again gave him that judgmental look that had a hint of disbelief and astonishment in it. “Are you a fucking infant, you don’t own a shampoo? and what have you been eating all this time, chips?”

 

“Gosh, dramatic, aren’t we? Like I said, don’t judge me. I just moved in alright? I was planning to buy all those things anyway, but I thought maybe for the meantime I could just use your help or something, save me the time and energy to run to the grocery store. But now it seems like you can’t really help me?” he cocked his eyebrows up and tried so hard not to let the disappointment shown on his face. He was being needy and he always was but he really didn’t like to look for pity. “Do you even have those things yourself here anyway?”

 

The taller guy seemed to begin wearing this concerned look on his face, well Minhyuk assumed it was concern. It was kind of hard to tell when he was wearing a mask like that. Why was he even wearing it anyway? he thought he would ask him when he heard the guy sighing deeply.

 

“Sure. I’ll let you borrow my shampoo.” he said, turning around but before he disappeared completely into his apartment he continued, “and stuffs, that I _do_ somehow have in this place… You can come in if you want.” He added the last bit after a pause.

 

Minhyuk could feel a wide smile creeping back onto his face. He stepped into his neighbor’s apartment, feeling a little too excited to see a new place. It had always felt good to be invited into someone’s house especially when they weren’t even close. He thought it meant that the person liked and trusted him enough to do so.

 

The place looked similar to his but not exactly the same and it was really messy like he somehow had expected it to be. The sight was really cliched, he thought. There were clothes on the floor, on the couch and even on the floor lamp located at the corner of the living room. The medium sized coffee table was filled to the brim with stuffs that he didn’t even care to inspect. He supposed they were just trashes anyway. However, there were things that caught his attention and they were the big-ass television with fancy speakers and variety of game consoles scattering about it. He was actually impressed by that.

 

As if he could hear Minhyuk’s thought about the place from where he was standing, Hyungwon, with his arms folded in his chest and making no move to even try to make his place look decent in a haste in front of his guest, said, “say it, I don’t care. I know what you are thinking about my place but, you know, at least i have a lot of cleaning supplies and foods in here.”

 

“No. This was just as expected. I mean, it’s fine. Yeah, you’re right, at least you have those stuffs.” he said offhandedly, shrugging, and the other guy scoffed before moving towards the kitchen and Minhyuk went after him without being told.

 

“Are you always like this to everyone? even though you’ve just met them?”

 

The kitchen was pretty nice though, he thought. It looked just like how a proper kitchen should’ve looked like. There were just a lot of stuffs that he would see in the likes of his mom’s kitchen, and it was pretty clean too. It kind of felt like the kitchen and the living room were in separate places.

 

“Hmm? What do you mean?” he asked a bit distractedly as he inspected an unopened cookie box with some obnoxious decoration on it which he found on the small kitchen island. It looked cheap, he thought briefly. “We haven’t just met though?”

 

“Well, technically, yeah. But I’m amazed, you’re so--” he trailed off and started busying himself with whatever that he had in his fridge.

 

“I am so?”

 

“I don’t know, brash? Okay maybe that's not the word but-- yeah. No offense though.”

 

Minhyuk raised his eyebrows. Hyungwon’s bluntness shouldn’t surprise him but it kind of did.

 

“Well, I was just about to ask if I was troubling you by coming and asking for stuffs this early, but fuck you, I don’t actually care.”

 

With that Hyungwon finally turned away from the fridge to face him. His expression was unreadable but Minhyuk just beamed at him anyway.

 

They were just standing there for a moment, no one said anything. Until Minhyuk couldn’t take it anymore and was just about to make some sickjoke on the cookie box he was scanning before when he saw Hyungwon’s shoulders starting to shake of laughter.

 

“Dude, you're something. You’re still the same you from years ago except worse.” Hyungwon said and he sounded rather impressed so Minhyuk took his words as a compliment and laughed along.

 

“Pretty sure you mean _better.”_ he retorted while flinging an empty cereal box towards his neighbor.

  
  
  
  


 

 

Minhyuk was leading as they both walked towards the front door of Hyungwon’s apartment, hugging a box full of so-called home essentials, borrowed from the later. There were some veggies, a small jar of kimchi, a Jennie-o whole turkey, a pair of cleaning gloves, a spray bottle and a weird looking small brush that his neighbor said was supposed to be used to clean the kitchen sink. To be honest, he doubted that he would convince his mother with these, but they were better than nothing. After all, he really couldn’t let his mother look into his pathetic fridge where it only contained two cartons of milk, a few eggs and a half-eaten store bought bento.

 

“Anyway, are you a freak? why are you wearing a mask inside your house?” he asked when he was already outside.

 

“Call me a freak until you actually catch my cold.”

 

“Oh.” He didn’t really think of that.

 

“Nah. My lips are swollen like hell from the cut I got at work and I just... sort of don’t like people staring at them.”

 

Minhyuk just couldn’t help but laughed at that, earning an offended look from his neighbor. He felt bad. He really did but he also couldn’t stop himself from being a little shit.

 

“You mean they grew bigger than they originally were?”

 

“Fuck off my face now why don’t you.” He is half-yelling but before Minhyuk could turn to leave as he was told to or even say anything as a comeback the guy proceeded with a much calmer but still somewhat taunting, “wait, before you moved in here were you actually living with your parents? I mean, at twenty-four?”

 

“No?” he answered incredulously. “I was living with my boyfriend in a very nice place like real adults, and also _married_ , you know, like you wouldn’t believe it. Hate to break it down to you, but I’m really not a snobby kid like you probably think I am.”

 

He was trying to seem as smug as he can while stating those but Hyungwon’s facial expression was nothing he had expected to see.

 

“Your boyfriend? You have a boyfriend?”

 

Then something struck him and he just froze there in his spot for a few seconds.

 

“I-I mean. N-No?” he stuttered and he was surprised that he just did. He thought he didn’t sound like himself at all. “I mean he’s my ex already. I mean it doesn’t matter. Gotta go.”

 

Without waiting for a response, he practically just stormed back to his own apartment and hastily typed in the password. Before he stepped a foot inside though he suddenly remembered about his neighbor whom he forgot to thank so he looked towards his left where Hyungwon’s apartment was and immediately saw a head sticking out of where his front door should be.

 

He chuckled quietly before saying out loud, “Chae, you look so fucking dumb, I don’t feel like thanking you anymore.”

  
  
  
  


 

 

It was near midnight and he just finished the readings for two of his classes tomorrow. It was one of those night where he just craved some physical contacts with another human being and it sucked since no one was there beside himself. He was lying on his side on the bed at the moment, facing nothing but an empty space and a blurry background drop.

 

He isn’t sleepy yet so one thing he couldn’t help but do now was reminiscing his past when he and Hyunwoo were still together.

 

He picked up his phone from somewhere beside him on his bed after contemplating for over fifteen minutes. He was lying on his stomach but when he was about to press ‘call’ he turned so that he was lying on his back.

 

He was feeling a bit anxious but he wasn’t being himself if he backed up now.

 

The line had been picked up after a few rings and he inhaled deeply.

 

“Hyung.”

 

_“Hey.”_

 

“Are you still up? What are you doing?” he asked, his lips formed a small smile despite the numb ache he was feeling in his chest.

 

_“I just got home from work. What are you doing still up? Don’t you have class tomorrow?”_

 

He laughed humorlessly. “I do and why do you care?”

 

He heard Hyunwoo let out a quiet laugh and then there was silence. The thing that Minhyuk hated the most, that he would break whenever he got the chance to but this time he just didn’t have it in him to break it.

 

_“Minhyuk? Are you there?”_

 

“Yeah.”

 

_“Uh, you got anything to say?”_

 

“Hyung, I miss you... Can’t you come over?” he asked while hoping that he didn’t sound too desperate. Just a little needy would be fine.

 

_“You know I can’t.”_

 

“Why not?” he asked and he is so aware of his menacing tone and he was kind of pleased with it. “Is he there?”

 

“ _Minhyuk…”_

 

“Well, hyung, it’s platonic, tell him that, will you? Tell him that there would be no romantic shit between us for fuck’s sake. Let’s not make him worry, yeah?”

 

There was nothing but silence again on the other end of line.

 

“Forget it, hyung. I’m not in the mood to talk anymore. Shit, I’m really pissed now, thanks to you. Wish me luck in life without you in it.” and he hung up, feeling more disappointed than anything else. Not that he really believed that the guy would comply with his plea but he was still kind of hurt by the lack of acknowledgement in his tone whenever he spoke to him, it was like he’d rather not.

 

He threw his phone on the soft mattress while muttering, “Insecure piece of shit!”

 

‘Insecure’ was a word that he could never had associated with Hyunwoo. But that was before he found out how the older was always so uptight about his relationship with Hoseok and the reason is, of course, _him_. It wasn’t even Hoseok who was worried about Minhyuk lingering about them. Or maybe he was, that was natural but what was Hyunwoo so afraid of?

 

Everyone knew for a fact that he had never got over Hyunwoo. Changkyun even believed that he would never do. He said that the breakup probably had damaged some parts of his brain and that was why he forgot to add ‘ex’ to ‘boyfriend’ when he addressed Hyunwoo sometimes. Probably was the keyword here. How could have either of them knew when they both are currently learning how to fight injustice in court and not about how to diagnose a disease.

 

Meanwhile he himself thought that it wasn’t that complicated. He had never moved on and that was that. He didn’t like to dwell on it so much.

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

  
  


 

While checking the group chat consisted of some of his friends from his administrative law class, he stepped inside the bathroom, hissing a little as his feet touched the cold tiles. He didn’t send anything, only there to check if someone had said anything instead about their new professor. No one said anything, the group chat wasn’t that lively in the first place, but he put down his phone and grabbed his toothbrush while mumbling out, ‘these pretentious, cold assholes’.

 

After he had done brushing his teeth and washing his face, he grabbed his phone back from the countertop and stepped out of his bathroom but before he was out completely, something stopped him. A loud moan. It sent a chill run down his spine since it just came out of nowhere and what time is it now? A little past midnight? He asked himself when another one followed, a bit softer this time.

 

Then it hit him. He shivered as he thought of some people getting it on near him at the moment. He was tired and wasn’t in the mood to entertain himself with this kind of thing and moreover he didn’t need to be reminded of his non-existent sex life right now.

 

Not even a minute had passed since then when he heard it again. Except this time it was not the kind that people would let out when they were at it. It was a long, agonizing scream that made his knees go weak a little. You didn’t hear this kind of horror every day.

 

He sat down at the edge of his bed and began bouncing his leg, feeling anxious and terrified at the thought of someone being tortured right at that exact moment and not to mention that person could’ve been his neighbor.

 

That can’t be Hyungwon, can it? He suddenly just remembered that Hyungwon was one of his neighbors and that Minhyuk’s bathroom was practically connected to the guy’s bedroom. He froze for a second. It was bad enough that whoever that was that was tortured to death being someone that lives nearby but now it got worse because it could’ve been someone he actually knew.

 

He tried to relax when he realized that he didn’t hear any screaming anymore and hastily moved to get under his cover. He was going to just push all the weird, creepy thoughts to the back of his head and tried to get some sleep instead. That was what he planned to do until he heard another screaming.

 

There were a lot of curses slipped out from between his teeth as he sprinted towards his front door and out into the hallway. He didn’t want this. He wanted sleep. But he couldn’t just sleep when he kept involuntarily imagining Hyungwon, the skinny, almost malnourished guy getting beaten up to death. He just couldn’t do it. He’d thought of calling him but he was just that wretched so not having the guy’s phone number when he needed it was pretty much an expected situation.

 

After ringing the doorbell and later on, pounding on the door a few times, finally someone opened the door and it wasn’t Hyungwon.

 

“Yes?” the guy who was not the neighbor he knew, greeted him, looking distressed and hurried, like Minhyuk just came at a wrong time and disturbed something he shouldn’t have.

 

“Uh, do you live here?” He asked instead when he intended to just ask where Hyungwon was.

 

“No.” The stranger answered shortly, still frowning.

 

“Then what are you doing here?” Again he asked something he didn’t mean to.

 

And that’s when Stranger’s face contorted into the most sardonic thing he had ever seen mixed with probably a little confusion.

 

“Sorry, I don’t know you. I think you’ve come to the wrong place.” The short guy said before moving to close the door in no time, but Minhyuk was faster.

 

“Wait.” he held the door with his hand and was about to ask the real question but then he heard Hyungwon’s voice, calling out to someone and it most likely would be this short, pressed looking guy since he turned his head slightly at the call.

 

“Is he okay?” Minhyuk asked quickly and proceeded as he saw the guy giving him this over exaggerated judgmental look. “I mean, listen, I don’t know what weird shit you guys were doing in there but I could hear him screaming loud and clear from my room and I was just trying to sleep but I can’t because I need to know if everything's alright first.”

 

And then everything happened very quickly; Hyungwon came into the scene and let him in before the shorty could’ve dismissed Minhyuk one more time and then he learned that Hyungwon just accidentally hurt his forearm with a piece of glass and somehow left an open cut over two inches long and the very inexperienced friend which Hyungwon briefly introduced to him as Yoo Kihyun was just trying to nurse the injury hence the screaming.

 

“Are you guys kidding me? Why can’t you go to a fucking doctor?”

 

He freaked out when he found out that Kihyun, the tiny man with tiny hands, was attempting to stitch the cut up himself. He tried avoiding looking at the bloody needle Kihyun is holding now.

 

“What do you mean? Everyone can suture a wound, we don’t need the doctor!” Kihyun shouted back, sounding incredulous.

 

“You're not living in the stone age or something for fuck’s sake! Doctors are there for a reason you know!” he didn’t want to back up. Not just yet. He wasn’t about to witness some primitive-based activity with his own two eyes.

 

“Hey, sir, do you know how much an ER visit cost, _do_ _you_?” Kihyun pressed and Minhyuk was ready to retaliate with the most intelligent answer he could come up with but then Hyungwon let out a frustrated grunt.

 

“I think I’m going to fucking die like this.” he said with a low voice when the other two males’ attention went to him.

 

“Dude, you’re not gonna die.” Minhyuk said matter-of-factly.

 

“Yeah. Just wait until I throw this random person out then I’ll treat you myself.” Kihyun cut in.

 

Hyungwon lifted his wounded arm and waved it a bit. “No. I’m serious. I’m going to pass out.” he slurred out and Minhyuk could see that the cut which had been wrapped poorly by some light blue colored cloth still gushed some blood.

 

“Dude, you _are_ going to die if you let him play doctor on you.” Minhyuk said softly before moving closer towards Hyungwon. He patted his cheek to make sure that he was still conscious. He turned to Kihyun and they spent about thirty seconds glaring at each other.

 

At the end Minhyuk won the debate or maybe the little guy just suddenly losing the confidence to treat the wound.

 

Kihyun also had to agree to drive them to the nearest hospital. The damned guy actually had a car, he thought annoyedly as he got in after Hyungwon who was still very much sober but becoming somewhat weaker as minutes passed, said that his head hurt like hell. On the way there Minhyuk just shut his mouth as Kihyun occasionally nagged at Hyungwon and also at him in not-very-subtle way. He couldn’t complain since Kihyun actually had let him tag along without a fuss and by the time they were there Minhyuk concluded that this guy, Kihyun, would definitely claim himself as Hyungwon’s parent if he could.

 

Luckily for Hyungwon, there weren’t so many people in critical conditions waiting at the moment so he didn’t have to wait long before he got called out to be treated, after Kihyun did the check in for him at the front desk. Then there they were, two not-so-strangers sitting two chairs apart from each other in the same row.

 

Minhyuk could feel his eyelids became heavier and heavier by the seconds so he checked the time and sighed. It was near one in the morning and he had a class at eight thirty tomorrow. He tried to remember why was he at the hospital again and he realized once again that it was because he didn’t want to leave Hyungwon in Kihyun’s hand just like that after learning that the guy had attempted to play doctor on him. He asked himself was it worth it? What was he doing sticking his nose into other people’s business? He didn’t know the small guy but that wasn’t the case with Hyungwon, he was his friend meanwhile he was just his new neighbor.

 

He sighed and leaned back onto the metal chair, thinking that he was still kind of fortunate that the daycare where he worked at was going to close for maintenance tomorrow so whatever. Maybe he could even get some sleep while waiting now that he started to get comfortable.

 

However, his serene state was interrupted immediately by a sudden phone call and he cursed under his breath.

 

“What do you want?” he whined out into his phone after picking up the call which came from Changkyun.

 

_“Minhyuk, you’re still awake? Hey, listen up-”_

 

“No, you listen up.” he cut the guy off unceremoniously, suddenly remembering about his own ridiculous situation. He was sitting up straight now, eager to spill everything out. “You’re not gonna believe where I am right now.”

 

_“Yeah? I’m sure I would. Now listen to me first.”_

 

“Sure. What is it?” he asked in lazy tone and exhaled loudly to his phone.

 

_“I was at work and guess who came into the shop?”_

 

Minhyuk can practically smell Changkyun’s excitement from where he was at even though other people usually can’t really tell what he was thinking from his voice alone, sometimes not even from looking at his face. He definitely got it from spending too much time with the kid.

 

“Kanye West?” he scoffed at the absurdity of it.

 

_“No, you asshat. It’s Jamie.”_

 

“Oh, if it wasn’t our little cutesy daisy Jamie!” he chirped with mock excitement. “So what did you guys do? Making eye-contact for longer than two seconds?”

 

_“You know what, fine, you aren’t intrigued. Whatever.”_  Minhyuk heard Changkyun said after a few beats of silence and he snickered evilly. _“So what happened? Your_ boyfriend _finally called you back?”_

 

“Alright, don’t be an asshole now.” he muttered out through gritted teeth as he heard Changkyun’s obnoxious laugh through the speaker.

 

He summed up to the younger about what happened from the point where he heard some screaming in his bathroom until how he got himself into an ER waiting area instead of sleeping on his bed before he ended with, “Can you believe that I am living next door to two fucking weirdos? Because I can’t.”

 

Then he realized that he just somewhat yelled that out so instinctively he turned to his left where he knew Kihyun was supposedly sitting, and he saw the guy narrowing his eyes at him. It was intimidating enough, bearing in mind that he just talked about the guy and his friend not in a very good way, that his heartbeat began to quicken a bit.

 

He gulped and whispered to Changkyun about how he needed to go and hung up right then. After pocketing his phone quietly, he leaned onto the chair again, acting like he never really had any phone call.

 

But Kihyun didn’t buy that. He cleared his throat to get Minhyuk’s attention and without waiting for any reaction from him, he said, “for clarification, I don’t live next to your door.”

 

For a second, Minhyuk didn’t really get where he was coming from and when he did, he sat up, feeling small under Kihyun’s stare. He didn’t know why he said ‘two weirdos’ before because now he remembered that Hyungwon had introduced Kihyun as his friend but then again he never really said that they weren’t living together so he kinda just grouped them together as he mentioned them to Changkyun.

 

“So you guys aren’t living together?” he asked the obvious, because he didn’t know what else to say.

 

“Does it really matter?”

 

“No.” He answered flatly. Now he is starting to get annoyed by Kihyun’s cynical nature.

 

“Are you guys close?” Kihyun asked and Minhyuk raised both his eyebrows questioningly. “You and Hyungwon.”

 

Minhyuk became silent at that for a moment since he wasn’t sure what the answer was himself. He shrugged. “I just moved in next door but I guess we are quite close... I mean why does it matter?”

 

Kihyun shrugged as well. “It doesn’t matter. I’m just curious.”

 

Minhyuk examined the guy’s face idly, casually wondering if Hyungwon maybe had somehow mentioned something about him to his friend.

 

And as if on cue, Kihyun’s face lit up. It was like he just realized something he thought was very interesting. “Wait. You aren’t the rich kid Hyungwon mentioned the other day, are you?”

 

He tilted his head, genuinely confused by the little nickname.

 

“The one who came to borrow his shampoo and veggies because he didn’t want to get scolded by his mom.”

 

That was him though? Except that it sounded like the story was tweaked a little. Who was the rich kid? And it wasn’t like he went to Hyungwon because he didn’t want to get scolded, he just didn’t want his living-alone privilege to get revoked and it didn’t, although his mom clearly was a bit skeptical by the impression that his place gave.

 

“It wasn’t you?”

 

He could see the light began to leave Kihyun’s face at the moment, like he was disappointed at the thought that it wasn’t him. And suddenly he remembered about how Hyungwon actually had known him in high school, the place where a lot of dumbasses thought that his name was Rich, or that he was just rich. Both were irrelevant and they just added to the list of reasons why high school sucked ass.

 

“Maybe. Except that I’m not rich and I’m not a kid so maybe not.” He answered dismissively.

 

“So it _was_ you!” the shorter proclaimed and laughed. He laughed with his whole face and body and Minhyuk can’t help but stare bemusedly even though he started to feel annoyed as well. “How old are you anyway?” he asked.

 

“Turning twenty four. I’m sure you’re older.” Minhyuk scowled at the guy.

 

Kihyun stopped laughing and widened his eyes at the answer. “Wait. No way! We’re the same age? thought you should be at least thirty.”

 

“Shut the fuck up.” Minhyuk hissed before he even decided if Kihyun was one of those people he could just say whatever to without having to worry about being rude.

 

But the guy laughed yet again easily and then muttered some nonchalant apology. Minhyuk only let out a snort as a response.

 

The next few minutes witnessed them exchanging words with each other. It wasn’t an exciting conversation but it wasn’t an awkward one either since they merely talked about suturing wounds and about how costly a visit to an ER could be. Minhyuk didn’t know much about these stuffs because he luckily never really had to visit the ER. Except for that one time when he was in third grade where he got into a minor road accident while riding his bike to school. So he was just doing the listening until Kihyun mentioned something about Hyungwon and his thought went back to last saturday, when he first stepped his foot inside the guy’s apartment.

 

“Listen.” he said after Kihyun seemed to be done describing how was it like witnessing his uncle stitching up his wife’s leg. “I have something to ask about Hyungwon.”

 

“Oh? What is it?” he looked taken aback a little, probably because he didn’t see it coming or probably because he heard some seriousness in Minhyuk’s tone which he himself didn’t intend it to be there.

 

Minhyuk closed his mouth, considering about saying what he was about to say for a second while shifting in his sit a little. “It’s about his sexuality...” he raised his index finger up immediately as Kihyun’s expression began to change and made a pointed look so that the guy didn’t say a word before he did. He stood up and moved to the chair beside the latter’s.

 

“I mean, I don’t care about his sexuality but does he have anything against it, you know, against people who aren't very straight?”

 

Kihyun only frowned at that and started giving him a once over.

 

“Listen, dude, we had a history together back in high school.” He stopped, realizing that he was being kind of dramatic with his choice of words and grinned to himself. “We sort of _dated_ for a very short time and then one day I punched the asshole in the face because he,” he paused when he saw Kihyun’s eyes twitched a little at the ‘a’ word. “I mean he _was_ an asshole, because he said that he wasn’t really interested in dicks and so I wanted to know just in case he became a homophobe or something over the years because the other day he seemed, I don’t know, surprised? knowing that I have a boyfriend. I mean, _had_ one.” he paused again to shake his head a bit. “Doesn’t matter. Trust me though, I wasn’t really going to do anything about it. Just a heads-up maybe.”

 

The guy, Yoo Kihyun, stared blankly at him for a moment, looking like he was in deep thought. Minhyuk raised his eyebrows when he sensed that the guy was starting to remember something and waited for him to spill what he had in mind but the man ducked his head, chuckling softly to himself.

 

“Man, that was such a history you had together. Who would’ve thought.” he snickered. “Don’t worry though. As far as I know, he was fine with people who aren’t very straight. I mean I’m not straight myself, not that I ever mentioned it to him, but I bet he could tell.”

 

Minhyuk nodded knowingly, musing at how forward Kihyun was with him momentarily before one random thought popped in his head suddenly.

 

“Don’t tell me you like him?” he snorted at how ridiculous that sounded.

 

“Hyungwon?” Kihyun’s eyes grew large at the suggestion. “Hell no?! I don’t even like how that sounds. He was such a brat. You have no idea--” he stopped abruptly as his eyes seemed to catch something somewhere beyond Minhyuk’s head. “Hey.” he greets suddenly, making Minhyuk turning his head.

 

As he already expected, there was Hyungwon, looking half-dead with a bandaged arm, trudging slowly towards where they were waiting for him.

 

“Judging from you two dicks’ faces, I am positive that you guys were talking about me.” Was the first thing he said to them with his signature low and lazy tone.

  
  
  


 

 

 

The next morning, he woke up at the sound of his doorbell being abused. His body felt like it was being crushed by something weighed over a hundred pounds that he was close to screaming when he forced himself to stand up. This would happen more often than not when he had very little sleep.

 

Last night, after they were done at the hospital, the genius, Yoo Kihyun thought of an idea; going to a diner he knew had an out of this world pizza grilled cheese sandwich and Minhyuk thought it actually wasn’t a bad idea, since he was hungry himself so to the diner they went and by the time he was home it was near five in the morning. He didn’t even remember what they were doing until so late in the morning.

 

And it was just too late to even regret anything. He just felt like he had failed in life.

 

He opened the door and saw Hyungwon and he let out a whine.

 

“What time is it?” he asked and choked up a sob.

 

The neighbor chuckled lowly. “It’s almost nine already.”

 

Minhyuk leaned onto the door frame and lifted one hand to rub his eyes. “You know what, I just feel like crying right now.”

 

Hyungwon didn’t say anything and Minhyuk didn’t feel like looking up to read the guy’s expression. They were just sort of standing there while Minhyuk took his time to calm himself down.

 

After what felt like an hour had passed, he looked up and cleared his throat. “What do you want, neighbor?” he asked.

 

“Kihyun cooked some breakfast and I left some for you.” he said and showed the three small containers he was holding and for some reason Minhyuk was really touched at how soothing Hyungwon sounded and how soft his smile looked. For the next few seconds he just stared at the guy, thinking of nothing in particular.

 

“Are you okay? I feel like I’m going to freak out now.”

 

“Fuck you. Why are you being so nice, I feel like crying for real.” he backed up and left the door open for Hyungwon to come in.

 

“You are already crying.” Hyungwon laughed and trailed behind Minhyuk into the living room and into the kitchen.

 

“And you said that you’re bringing me a leftover? Wow, that was very nice of you neighbor.” He deadpanned before flopping down at the table.

 

Hyungwon put down the breakfast on the table and sighed. “I know you were born rich, but be grateful a little, you brat.”

 

Minhyuk lowered his head until his chin touched the cold surface of the small dining table. “Stop this ‘rich kid’ bullcrap. That was so ten years ago.”

 

The other guy didn’t say anything back instead he went around the kitchen and later came back to the table with a few bowls and a spoon. “Don’t you use chopsticks?”

 

“I do. Who do you think I am? They were in one of the drawers.”

 

And the other went to find the chopsticks and he actually found them pretty easily. Then he quietly set up the meal which consisted of rice, soup and some type of chicken dish. After he had done, he went to the refrigerator and returned with a milk carton and a mug.

 

“Come on, stop crying and eat.”

 

Minhyuk sniffed involuntarily. “I’m not crying.” then he paused for a sec and stared at the dishes. “I don’t eat rice for breakfast.”

 

There was a beat of silence and then Minhyuk squealed as something hard hit the top of his head. “I’m just kidding!” he cried out while grabbing his head.

 

“I’m so done with you, you fucking infant.” Hyungwon grumbles, putting down the spoon which he clearly just used to whack Minhyuk’s head. “Don’t make me regret coming all the way here to feed your sorry mouth.”

 

Minhyuk stood up and bowed to the guy, his palms on his stomach, while mumbling a ‘thank you’ and then he started eating in silence. Hyungwon sat across from him and started asking him stuffs about school with occasional insults here and there and he answered them passively also with some insults here and there. At some point he realized that they do that all the time. Insulting each other somehow had became a core in their _neighbor-ship_. Minhyuk didn’t mind at all. He actually felt comfortable this way but Hyungwon’s not-very-subtle kindness somehow got to his nerves.

 

“Why are you being nice to me, Chae?” he inquired with a mouth full of rice, casually ignoring Hyungwon’s comment on his piled up dishes in the sink. “I feel like… I guess, burdened? I don't know.”

 

“Oh, don’t be.” He laughed. “I’m not being nice to you. It’s Kihyun. He felt bad for keeping you up even when you said you had morning classes.”

 

“And what does that make me? I haven’t done anything back for you, for those stuffs you let me borrowed from you.” he inspected the chicken dish as he spoke. He didn’t know what kind of dish it was. He supposed it was Kihyun’s own recipe. It wasn’t bad but it was new to his taste bud. He looked up when he didn’t hear anything from Hyungwon and found the guy boring his eyes into his head and he diverted his eyes towards his rice.

 

“Then why the fuck did you pay the bill for my treatment last night?!”

 

“Because I made you go there, didn’t I? Isn’t that obvious?”

 

The room fell dead silent right then. It stayed that way for how long Minhyuk didn’t know. With each seconds that passed by felt like a ticking bomb that would detonate anytime. Some types of silence just gave him that much anxiety.

 

“You’re right.” Hyungwon said finally and Minhyuk breathed. “I agreed that I would forget about it anyway. So you too, should forget about it. Stop asking questions when people are being nice to you. Just say you’re grateful and move on.”

 

Minhyuk paused his chewing and mouthed an ‘okay’ before continuing. He didn’t know that he could’ve pissed off a guy that much by asking that kinda question since he thought he was just trying to be nice by repaying and even refusing some people’s kindness. He always thought about not burdening people rather than anything else. What was wrong about that though? He wondered. He thought maybe he and Hyungwon were of different kinds after all.

 

“I didn’t know you could be scary when you’re not talking.” Hyungwon’s voice broke the silence again.

 

“I was not offended though, if you’re wondering.” he muttered, pouting slightly.

 

“Okay.” The neighbor chuckled. “Seriously though, don’t feel bad. You make _me_ feel bad if you do.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll probably post the next chapter tomorrow :^)


	3. Chapter 3

 

 

 

Minhyuk glances towards the digital clock on his desk which reads; 21:07 and begins stretching. He just finishes his assignments for legal writing and kind of wants to go straight to bed except that he’s already made a plan to eat with Hyungwon. It’s not really a plan actually. It’s more like he just ordered two large boxes of pizza on a whim because there is a discounted price on double order then he thinks that he can’t really finish them all by himself so his thought goes to his neighbor.

 

He grabs his phone from his bed and open the chat window of him and Hyungwon.

 

_‘Yo you home homie’_

 

He lets his phone flop down unceremoniously onto his mattress and opts for the kitchen, supposing that it would take awhile for Hyungwon to reply his text. But he’s wrong because his phone immediately dings, signaling that he’s receiving a new message.

 

_‘Why u ask? U can just come and bang on my door like u always do’_

 

_‘O yeah forgot to just DO that. wait for me busy boy’_

 

Once again he throws his phone onto his mattress. He rolls his eyes at the memories of him doing what Hyungwon just said he always does and then actually being greeted back by nothing but silence. It happened a few times. Because these days, Chae Hyungwon, a self-proclaimed rising actor who went from being a stunt double and an extra to being an actual actor with actual lines, is starting to get real busy with different projects keep coming in or so he said.

 

Minhyuk stretches again and yawns. He dazes off for the nth time that night. It was a long day for him. He is sure anymore paragraphs he has to read from his casebooks today would make him puke blood. He tries blinking the tiredness off and contemplates going to Hyungwon’s for a second. Eventually, he decides that he is quiet hungry himself and he honestly doesn’t feel like eating alone.

 

The corridor is rather cold that he almost decides against going to Hyungwon’s once again, but he braces himself and sprints towards Hyungwon’s door with two pizza boxes in his hands. He rings the doorbell a few times but then he suddenly wonders if the guy is even inside and that he was just fucking with him earlier in the text. Why didn’t he think about that possibility first of all things because now he is starting to feel stupid and disappointed.

 

He bangs on the door a few more times just for good measure and later, he thinks he’s just going to text the guy a series of ‘fuck you’s. But he doesn’t need to do that apparently because Hyungwon finally opens his door at the second bang, frowning at him.

 

“Damn, you’d never stop, would you?”

 

“Fuck you too, bitch.” he snaps and shoves the pizza to his neighbor’s chest with more force than necessary. “I’m fucking tired and hungry and you have the audacity to treat me like this.”

 

“And what are _you_ doing right now? I’m fucking tired too and you have the audacity to come barging into my place.” He counters with the exact same tone as Minhyuk’s.

 

“But you said yourself that I can come bang on your door. It’s not my fault that I took that literally.” he says while rolling his eyes and is ready to just step inside Hyungwon’s apartment even without proper invitation but as he does, he hears something from somewhere inside that makes him stop short. He didn’t expect that Hyungwon would have a company and he knows it isn’t Kihyun since he heard that the guy is on the other side of the country at the moment. “Oh, shit.”

 

“What now?”

 

He grabs Hyungwon’s arm and starts whispering. “You have someone over?”

 

Hyungwon seems to be very confused by the sudden inquiry. “What?”

 

“I heard something.” he widens his eyes as he throws his thumb over his shoulder.

 

The taller’s lips forming a ‘O’ when he realizes what Minhyuk means. “Oh, it must be Matilda.”

 

With that, Minhyuk’s eyes grow even larger. He steps back outside quickly. “Dude, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had someone over.”

 

Hyungwon gapes at him and cracks up. “Are you an idiot? Matilda is a cat. There is no _someone_ inside. It’s only a cat.” Then he resumes cracking up and shakes his head in clear disbelief. “I can’t believe you are freaking out over a fucking cat.”

 

Minhyuk, who is still not recovering from the shock, just trails behind Hyungwon quietly into the apartment. Matilda is a fucking cat. He repeats that in his head. No wonder the name sounds odd.

 

When he’s inside, he naturally starts scanning the place for the said cat until it finally comes out of the kitchen. It’s a very pretty cat. Minhyuk is actually shaken by the tiny creature. He literally can’t take his eyes off of her from the moment she appeared by the kitchen doorway, even though he is sure he is more of a dog person. Hyungwon says that he is just cat-sitting Matilda for a woman called Nina who lives on the floor above them that Minhyuk is never aware of.

 

“Nina who?” he asks while extending his hand in an attempt to touch the silver furred cat. “You’re actually friends with some other people from here besides me?” he turns his attention to Hyungwon who is just about to take a bite off of a slice of pizza.

 

“No shit! You think I’m a hermit or something. I’m not like you.” he gives a look from the corner of his eyes, munching on Minhyuk’s pizza.

 

“Me? A hermit? Don’t make me laugh. I am a fucking extrovert. I thought that was obvious.” he said a little distractedly as Matilda refuses to be friendly and runs away after he touched her.

 

“Oh, I know you are. Except that you are also one of those pretentious law kids who think the whole world is below them.”

 

“Oh, wow. What was that? Is that a new line you got to memorize for one of those non-mainstream tv shows?  I guess, your new project?” he gets up from the floor and goes to follow the cat who is now settling on the couch beside his neighbor. “And here I am thinking you were actually fucking a pretty actress or something.”

 

Hyungwon grimaces as he stops mid-biting. “Oh, yeah. What was that? Why do you care so much if I’m fucking anyone or not? You’re not my mom. You even said sorry when you thought I had someone over, I can’t believe it.”

 

Minhyuk leans back on the couch backrest as soon as he flops down onto the soft cushion. He lets out a sigh of relief and starts to get comfy. “Your mom worries about your sex life? Wow. But I mean I don’t know, man. I thought i heard something from my bathroom last time so i’m just guessing that you are seeing someone now... At last.” he lied about that part where he heard something just to mess with the guy.

 

He closes his eyes while his hand caressing Matilda’s soft furs. She doesn’t run away this time and he suspected that it’s because she is so intrigued by the smell of the pizza. She makes no move for them though.

 

For some reason he feels so at peace and content in this moment, as if he could just sleep like that and it’s going to be the best sleep he’s going to have for a while. But of course, his idiotic neighbor, wouldn't let it happen when he starts snickering.

 

“You think I would do shit in my bedroom knowing that you would be listening?”

 

“Ugh, that’s gross.” he slurs out, doesn’t even bother to open his eyes. “So don’t tell me you’ve been getting it on on this couch all this time.”

 

“I’m not fucking anyone here. No.”

 

Minhyuk opens his eyes to take a look at the other man. He is so sure that he heard some kind of grief in Hyungwon’s voice. He grins lazily towards him even when Hyungwon is clearly busy stuffing his face and is not looking at him. “Are you lonely, Chae?”

 

“To be honest, no.” he answers after a short pause. “Thank you for your concern though.”

 

He chuckles lightly and lets the sleepiness take him out slowly. He’s out for literally ten seconds it feels like before he hears Hyungwon’s voice calling for him. He starts to get annoyed as he thinks that his neighbor most likely woke him up only to throw him out of his apartment.

 

“What?” he frowns as he opens his eyes.

 

“Your phone rang multiple times. Come on, pick it up. Could be an emergency.” Hyungwon says, hovering above him while the tips of his fingers are pressing on Minhyuk’s knee.

 

“Oh, really?” he sits up and takes out his phone from the pocket of his sweatpants.

 

There are three missed calls from Changkyun and also a few new texts that are also from the same guy. He sighs because he knows what are the calls and texts all about even before returning them or opening the texts.

 

“Where are you? Are you not coming? Want me to pick you up?” He reads the texts out loud before looking up to where his neighbor is standing near the walls on his left. “It’s Changkyun.” he says though no one actually asked.

 

“Oh.” Hyungwon responds while walking around the coffee table to sit on the other end of the couch and doesn’t say anything else.

 

He answers the text with the same answer he’s been giving his friend since yesterday about the party one of their mutual friends is throwing that night. He is tired and he’s not interested and that’s that. Changkyun just doesn’t like parties much and he hates refusing people as well, that’s why he resorts to pester Minhyuk to come with him every single time. He doesn’t mind going usually but tonight is not the night.

 

“How long did I black out?” Minhyuk asks, reclining back onto the couch. His eyes move towards the television which has been turned on now.

 

“Fifteen minutes. More or less.”

 

“Really?” he mutters and shakes his head slowly. “Sorry, that wasn’t planned. I really only want to eat with you, that’s why I came.”

 

He stretches lazily and yawns. His eyes are darting everywhere whilst he tries to find what he was thinking about saying before he was out.

 

“Are you guys going out?” Hyungwon suddenly goes, catching Minhyuk off guard.

 

He takes his sweet time trying to decipher the question because it’s a very unexpected one.

 

“Changkyun? No! Well, not now. We were.” he says while his eyes are focusing on the show that is shown on the screen. He recognizes the show, probably from a commercial, but he doesn’t know anything about it. It seems like one of those many detective shows out there.

 

He glances towards his neighbor who has turned quiet. He was about to ask whether he has ever mentioned about him and Changkyun dating before since he talked about Changkyun quite a lot but the guy beats him to it, asking, “so did you date every guy you’ve met?”

 

Once again, he is taken aback and this time the question also makes him fully awake. Hyungwon’s face is unreadable but Minhyuk can’t miss the scoff and disbelief in his tone.

 

“No. There were girls, too.” he answers flatly while staring straight into Hyungwon’s eyes. They stay like that for a couple more second then Minhyuk turns away. “Though, I didn’t do it just to play-experiment on my sexual orientation.”

 

Tonight is a long night, he muses when the silence takes over. It feels as if each seconds are passing by very slowly. He wonders where Matilda is.

 

“I didn’t know you remember.” he hears Hyungwon mumbling softly after an eternity.

 

“If you are talking about us dating, well, unfortunately I do remember something about it. It happened in high school, Chae. Not when we were both first graders or something.”

 

“But you never said anything!” Hyungwon counters, tone harsh, like he’s seriously intending to start a fight.

 

“Should I? Why? Why does it matter?”

 

Hyungwon shuts his mouth at Minhyuk’s raised voice or maybe at his very sour face. The latter can see that the guy’s small face has become tensed and he’s practically glowering at him but he is still not done either.

 

“Look, Chae, I swear to god if you have some kind of... disgust or offense towards me fucking-- or I mean, _dating_ men you can just say it and I would just fuck off your life or something.” he shrugs, trying to sound nonchalant and not salty at all, even when he’s really, actually offended by the thought of Hyungwon having any kinds of problem with his sexuality.

 

The silence that comes after would probably stretch for longer if it’s not for the beauty, Matilda, who appears out of nowhere and then jumps onto her previous spot between the two men on the couch, very much to Minhyuk’s relief.

 

“Hey, pretty.” The corners of his lips raise a little as he greets the cat and pats her.

 

“Minhyuk, come on.” Hyungwon begins calmly and Minhyuk turns his head toward him. “Seriously, I don’t know where did you get the idea, but I don’t care who you date and I don’t have… anything against it. Honest. I know you don’t really care about what i think of you but yeah, I’m sorry. I guess.”

 

“Then why do ask so much question?”

 

“I don’t know and I’m sorry, okay?” Hyungwon gives him an exasperated look. “And stop calling me Chae. It’s pissing me off.”

 

“Uh huh.” Minhyuk practically ignores him in favor of stroking Matilda. He keeps cooing at the cat which is now secured in his hold. “Ugh, why are you so pretty?” he grunts softly to her fur while squeezing the poor animal.

 

He wants a cat or more like he wants this cat. He can’t stop imagining having Matilda in his arms all the time at his own apartment. He thinks of how nice it would be if he could just buy the cat from her owner.

 

“Get your own pet. I don’t think Nina would ever sell Matilda off.” Hyungwon says before getting up from the couch and disappears into his bedroom, leaving Minhyuk gaping by himself.

 

It seems like he just said those things out loud. Now he thinks that he probably needs sleep.

 

“Stop talking to her. You’re being creepy.”

 

“Where are you going?” Minhyuk asks when he sees his neighbor putting on a jacket.

 

“The corner store to buy some soda because you didn’t.”

 

“Really? Just drink water, dude. Are you gonna leave me alone now?”

 

Hyungwon stares at him from the corner of his eyes. “Yes, neighbor. You can stay with Matilda. The corner store is just down the road.”

 

Minhyuk pouts, not liking the thought of being left alone since he could fall asleep anytime. He’s been to Hyungwon’s place countless of time but he’s never slept over. It’s just something he thinks isn’t necessary and would be a bother since he basically lives next door.

 

“What if I fall asleep?”

 

“Then just do that. Are you trying to be courteous now?” Hyungwon cocks one eyebrow up.

 

“What? I’m not being courteous. I just prefer my own soft and clean bed.”

 

That’s what he said but a little later, after he’s left alone, he falls asleep almost instantly on the couch with Matilda on his chest.

  


 

 

 

Minhyuk skimps towards a familiar figure who’s jogging down the street near the apartment complex where he lives. He takes a glance at his cheap Hamilton watch on his wrist. He knows that it’s only about nine thirty when he came down the building but he still wants to make sure he wouldn’t be too late by making a detour.

 

“Good morning.” he greets the guy when he’s finally side by side with the one and only neighbor from 9-4.

 

The taller seems surprised but he cracks a smile immediately. Minhyuk grins wider at the thought that he is rather a pleasant surprise to Hyungwon.

 

“Good morning, neighbor.” he greets back. “Where are you going? I thought you only have class in the afternoon?”

 

“How do you know my schedule?” he widens his eyes, genuinely surprised.

 

“I don’t. But i remember what you said last time, something about having a class with a sexy substitute on wednesday and it’s in the afternoon.” he says breathlessly as he turns towards his right, into a rather quiet park.

 

Minhyuk follows behind him but he is already starting to get winded. He doesn’t exercise much, that he knows, but he is sure that he is pretty fit so he wonders why is he so out of breath. He then stops to take a breather.

 

“Hey, Hyungwon. Neighbor. Stop.” he inhales and continues, “Stop. Why aren’t you stopping?”

 

Hyungwon, who is already about fifteen feet away from him, halts in his steps and turns on his back. “What?”

 

He sighs as he walks closer to the guy. He makes a face when he feels that his back is starting to get damp a little with sweat. It feels like summer is already here when it’s clearly not.

 

“Why do you do this? You’re already super skinny.” he says when they are standing close to each other.

 

“I do this to be healthy, not to get skinnier.” he chuckles at the view of his tired neighbor.

 

Minhyuk rolls his eyes before checking the time. He’s not late for anything but he can’t help it since he already made a plan to go to the library to work on his resume and, of course, do some more readings before his afternoon class starts.

 

He’s planning to apply for summer jobs because that seems like what everyone else is doing at his school.

 

“Are you going somewhere?” Hyungwon asks as his hand slowly comes up and touches Minhyuk’s hair. “You look good. Did you cut your hair?”

 

For a moment, Minhyuk only gawks as a response because no word successfully comes out of his mouth. “Y-yeah. I mean, _what_ \-- are you serious?”

 

Hyungwon releases a few strands of Minhyuk’s hair that he just holds between his thumb and forefinger. His gaze falls on Minhyuk’s face and it stays there. Everything feels like it happens in slow-motion and Minhyuk’s mouth gets drier after every second that passes.

 

“W-what?” Minhyuk stutters again and it frustrates him that he just loses it. “Dude, fuck you and your face! Are you gonna confess your love for me or what next?”

 

The taller suddenly bursts into a wild, hysterical laughter and his hand starts hitting Minhyuk as he does so.

 

“Bullshit.” he sputters in between.

 

Minhyuk can’t help but slowly starts to laugh himself. Hyungwon’s laugh is infectious and the whole situation is just ridiculous anyway and also kind of embarrassing on his side. There is no one in the park but still, he glances around to see if they’re actually disturbing anyone with their obnoxious attitude.

 

He pushes his neighbor away when the hitting begin to hurt him.

 

“Dude, sorry to disappoint you but all i’m confessing right now is that you are adorable as shit when you’re nervous.” he says, still laughing maniacally while hitting himself.

 

“Asshole! Who’s nervous?” Minhyuk scoffs. He definitely wasn’t nervous. It’s only that he gets flustered by praises given to him easily. Especially when he didn’t see them coming and Hyungwon is the last person on earth he would ever imagine complimenting him or talking about his look in general. “And did you say disappoint? Sorry, but all I’m disappointed in is your birth into this world.”

 

“Hey, hey.” Hyungwon finally stops being hysterical and stands up straight. “Be grateful when people compliment you, son.”

 

“Oh?” he grins as he thinks of a way to return the favor. He can guess that Hyungwon too never would expect to get flattered by him.

 

He moves closer before he cups Hyungwon’s little face in his hands and look up into his eyes.

 

“Even though you’re only in your worn-out black jumpsuit.” He pauses and gives the guy a once over. “You look stunning today too, you hot bitch!”

 

Then, he stares into Hyungwon’s rather wide eyes and not even ten seconds later Minhyuk splutters into his neighbor’s face as he can’t hold in his laughter any longer.

 

“You nasty little-” Hyungwon lets out a shrill while he wipes the spit off his face and Minhyuk takes his chance to bolt.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk if you can tell but I'm really bad at planning a story so yeah.

**Author's Note:**

> lol Idk why I decided that minhyuk studied law when I know nothing about law studies or law school. so I'm sorry if I make mistakes along the way regarding the course and everything related to it.


End file.
